One of my favourite events in the science calendar is always the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony, which was held last night in Cambridge, MA. For those that don’t know, the Ig Nobels celebrate the odd and unusual in scientific research, both genuine and not-quite.

The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think. The prizes are intended to celebrate the unusual, honor the imaginative — and spur people’s interest in science, medicine, and technology

And last night’s awards (archived video!) were no different than previous years’ in their ability to make us laugh and then think.

CHEMISTRY PRIZE: Johan Pettersson [SWEDEN and RWANDA]. for solving the puzzle of why, in certain houses in the town of Anderslöv, Sweden, people’s hair turned green.ATTENDING THE THE CEREMONY: Johan Pettersson